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The following is attributed to フジテレビHP／経済新聞. I wonder if someone could explain
the grammar around the と? (I think it might be an "abbreviation" of として but it
is very difficult to find an explanation of this.)

>
> 総合司会タモリ(森田一良、６８歳）は..地元で「変人」と面白がられていたのを、ジャズピアニスト山下洋輔らに見い出されて１９７６年に芸能界[に]デビュー[した]。
>
> The MC Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita, 68)'s act as an amusing eccentric was
> discovered in his home town by the Jazz pianist Yousuke Yamashita and his
> entourage. He broke into the entertainment world in 1976.

(Items in [] were added to expand this extract beyond its newspaper style. The
translation is mine so please feel free to offer improvements.)

Revised translation based on feedback (further comment welcome):

> MC Tamori (Kazuyoshi Morita, 68)'s act was discovered in his home town by
> the Jazz pianist Yousuke Yamashita and his entourage where the locals who
> got a kick out his performances had named him "henjin" ("the eccentric"). He
> broke into the entertainment world in 1976.


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2014-03-23T08:31:06.530
14999
2014-04-04T10:40:04.280
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
1556
question
grammar particles
Ellipsis: does this と＝として, what is the relevant verb in this extract?


I am going to say that in this context, 「と」 ≠ 「として」. I would call it the
quotative 「と」.

「『[変人]{へんじん}』と[面白]{おもしろ}がられていた」 ＝ 「『変人』と[呼]{よ}ばれ面白がられていた」

The verb form 「面白がられていた」 is in the "passive voice past progressive". The
subject of this is タモリ in the original Japanese, but it would be difficult to
retain that in an English translation. I myself would use "the locals" as the
subject and opt for a verb phrase in the active voice like "to get a kick out
of".

The phrase 「『[変人]{へんじん}』と[面白]{おもしろ}がられていた」 sounds informal and conversational
and it is barely acceptable as written language; Hence, the confusion.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-23T10:57:43.597
15000
2014-03-24T03:19:38.110
2014-03-24T03:19:38.110
14999
answer